Hungarian Rakoczi Foundation awarded by the Charlemagne Youth Prize

Sun, 2010-02-21 18:22 — Anonymous

The Hungarian Rakoczi Foundation received a prestigious international award in 2008. The first ever Charlemagne Youth Prize accorded by the European Parliament was designed for already exisiting initiatives from the Member States of the European Union, that expressed the idea of European identity and integration, and were active attaining these.
In the two-staged selection procedure, the Students Without Boundaries Program won both the national jury’s and the European jury’s unanimous support. The project was adjudged to be of the greatest value from 400 organizations. In their appreciation, the jury emphasized that the Program achieves the conception of the free Europe, exempt from discrimination, where every citizen is equal, irrespective of the member state he lives in. They considered it to have a special added value int he program that young people from Ukraine and Serbia also had the possibility to take part in the project, thus binding stronger these countries to the European Union.

The Hungarian Rakoczi Foundation received a prestigious international award in 2008. The first ever Charlemagne Youth Prize accorded by the European Parliament was designed for already exisiting initiatives from the Member States of the European Union, that expressed the idea of European identity and integration, and were active attaining these.
In the two-staged selection procedure, the Students Without Boundaries Program won both the national jury’s and the European jury’s unanimous support. The project was adjudged to be of the greatest value from 400 organizations. In their appreciation, the jury emphasized that the Program achieves the conception of the free Europe, exempt from discrimination, where every citizen is equal, irrespective of the member state he lives in. They considered it to have a special added value int he program that young people from Ukraine and Serbia also had the possibility to take part in the project, thus binding stronger these countries to the European Union.

After the distribution of prizes on 29 April in
Aachen, we received an invitation to a three-day visit in Bruxelles, in the
European Parliament. Four people represented the Foundation - Ilona Mikóczy and
Zoltán Csadi from Slovakia, Ágota Demeter
from Romania and Emőke Korzenszky from Hungary. We had the opportunity to
present the Students Without Boundaries Program in the Cultural Committee of
the Parliament; we met in person Mr. Hans-Gert Pöttering, the president of the European Parliament, Mr. Vidal
Quadras, the vice-president, along with Ms. Katerina Batzeli, the chairperson
of the CULT Committee. Mr. Vidal Quadras congratulated us on our project that
allows for the minority entity being dissolved in the European collective
identity.

It was a special pleasure for us that every single Hungarian MEP
welcomed us cordially and warmly. Kinga Gál, Pál Schmitt, József Szájer, László Surján, Csaba Tabajdi and
Mrs. Magda Kovács Kósa from Hungary, Edit Bauer and Árpád Duka-Zólyomi from
Slovakia, respectively Csaba Sógor from Romania ensured us about their appreciation
and support. We also talked about the deputies joining the work of the
Foundation, grouped visits in the Parliament and possible traineeship programs for
the participants of the project.

It is our firm belief that the Charlemagne Youth Prize provides extraordinary facilities and opens new
gates for the Program. It is our great pleasure that several MEP-s accepted our
invitation to the closing ceremony of the 15th edition of the Students Without
Boundaries Program.

This year's Charlemagne
Youth Prize is the acknowledgement of an unexampled collaboration that spans
across borders, that is the merit alike of the North American supporters, the Canadian Rákóczi Foundation and the volunteers of the Rakoczi
Foundation. We wish to thank everyone. We are proud we could represent such a
union.